$2bn Europa clipper mission proposed

Scientists are hoping to send a probe to find signs of life on Jupiter's ice-covered waterworld moon.

When the topic of finding alien life within our solar system is brought up, Europa is predominantly mentioned as the single most likely place to find it. Thought to be filled with oceans of liquid water encased within an icy crust, the conditions on this Jovian moon could be ideal for life to develop. The problem with looking for it though is that Europa is both a long way away and its subterranean oceans are all but inaccessible.

In a bid to learn more about the frozen moon and whether it supports life, scientists have proposed a new $2bn spacecraft called the Europa Clipper which is designed to make several passes while orbiting Jupiter. Funding has yet to be confirmed for the project but if all does go ahead the probe could be launched by 2021.

"scientists have drawn up plans for a mission that could look for life on Europa, a moon of Jupiter that is covered in vast oceans of water under a thick layer of ice."

Concerning landing and one day exploring below the ice. Someone mentioned the ice may be 60 miles thick before you reach the liquid ocean. If that is so (and I have no idea if that figure is correct) how likely is it we can get a probe down to the water? With -160 to -220 on the surface, any hole that we could melt or bore would instantly refreeze. Could you receive a signal through that much ice from an untethered ROV? It also seems unlikely that you could have 60 miles of cable from the surface to an ROV. You would almost need a robot that could melt its way down to the water, operate indepe... [More]

If we harken back to the JFK era when NASA was given the primary mission of getting a man on the moon, it did so with a focused zeal that brought the world together in marvelous celebration to where an entire civilization was able to move beyond the Earth and set foot on an alien world. We must remember that at that time the "world" was a divided body when it came to Space travel. If it were not for the Soviet Union (at the time) trying to reach the Moon during the early 60's, we as mankind may have taken a little longer to reach other bodies besides our Planet. President Kennedy was adamant i... [More]

The whole venture was a huge waste of time and money just so the US could win over Russia. The world's technology is only now getting to the point where this sort of thing becomes reasonably worth while.

The whole venture was a huge waste of time and money just so the US could win over Russia. The world's technology is only now getting to the point where this sort of thing becomes reasonably worth while. The "reason" may be dubious but the result was definitely worth it. Sometimes the reasons for doing something may not be the best at heart but if the end result is as amazing as walking on the Moon, then maybe the Space race was worth the dubious reason. Without the 2 superpowers battling to be first to the Moon, maybe the record books would have a German name as the first person on the Moon (... [More]

About the ice thickness, most things I have read put the ice thickness at 2-5 miles. Which, if right, is a thickness we can deal with. And I for one look forward to this mission being launched within my lifetime

If I understand your idea it would still require a lander, which would be expensive, complicated and risky. As MedicTJ pointed out Europa has no appreciable atmosphere and so we would need a landing system that would make Curiosity's "seven minutes of terror" look like child's play. The price tag is $2 billion for an orbiter, I suspect a lander would be considerably more expensive. . Not quite Waspie, I was proposing 2 impactors (acoustic cannon, and Sonar Transponder), with only 1/10th the gravity of Earth and no appreciable atmospher the impactors to approach at very low speed (relatively) a... [More]

The "reason" may be dubious but the result was definitely worth it. Sometimes the reasons for doing something may not be the best at heart but if the end result is as amazing as walking on the Moon, then maybe the Space race was worth the dubious reason. Without the 2 superpowers battling to be first to the Moon, maybe the record books would have a German name as the first person on the Moon (they both took as much information from "Von Braun" as they could to advance their programs) Your point is well taken, and it may be that the loss of face that the Russians incurred, after they made the c... [More]

The "reason" may be dubious but the result was definitely worth it. Sometimes the reasons for doing something may not be the best at heart but if the end result is as amazing as walking on the Moon, then maybe the Space race was worth the dubious reason. Without the 2 superpowers battling to be first to the Moon, maybe the record books would have a German name as the first person on the Moon (they both took as much information from "Von Braun" as they could to advance their programs) Not quite right Major Payne.. The USA, UK, and Russia took everything that remained (Operation Paperclip) the G... [More]

Not quite right Major Payne.. The USA, UK, and Russia took everything that remained (Operation Paperclip) the German Authorities that remained had no access to, or knowledge of the projects as the knowledge was closely guarded by Himmler (Reichsfuhrer), and that which was discovered comprised of only those project notes and prototypes (or functional machines as in the case of the V2) that were not summarily destroyed.Germany was deprived of all access, as was France Mine is a "Hypothetical" scenario keith. "Maybe" it would have been Germany "Maybe" not. None of us will ever know as this scenar... [More]